NHS pressures ‘may hold back UK cancer research’

Cancer research efforts across Britain could be stifled by the mounting daily pressures on NHS services.

This is according to a new report from the University of Birmingham, commissioned by Cancer Research UK, which has indicated that the growing difficulties involved in the delivery of routine services are reducing the time available for hospital staff to do vital research.

Moreover, financial pressures are affecting research infrastructure and the capacity of host organisations to fund additional study costs – potentially undermining the UK's historically strong performance in the cancer research field.

It was also revealed that doctors now find they have to be highly motivated to do research, because of the factors creating much more work on top of their normal jobs.

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "We've made great progress in treating cancer … so it's vital that our NHS doctors and nurses have enough time to continue the outstanding research that has made this possible."

Currently, the UK has more people taking part in clinical trials in cancer than almost anywhere else in the world, with around a fifth of cancer patients actively participating.